


Mind-made Treats

by Tasyfa



Category: Roswell New Mexico (TV 2019)
Genre: Gen, M/M, Nebulous Well-Adjusted Future, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, Valentine's Day Fluff, do not copy to other sites, mentioned Michael Guerin/Alex Manes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-14
Updated: 2020-02-14
Packaged: 2021-02-28 01:00:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,193
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22705108
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tasyfa/pseuds/Tasyfa
Summary: "Great, so I'm fucking swimming in romance. That doesn't help me with Valentine's, Isobel."Or, that time his sister helps Michael out.
Relationships: Michael Guerin & Isobel Evans
Comments: 13
Kudos: 74





	Mind-made Treats

**Author's Note:**

> Unmitigated saccharine fluff and family feels. I offer neither excuses nor apologies :D. Happy Valentine's!  
> ~ Tas

"What are you doing, Michael?"

"Writing, what does it look like?"

"It looks like staring at a blank page." He groaned internally as Isobel sat down beside him, her interest clearly piqued. "What are you trying to write?"

Michael mumbled a reply and got an elbow to the ribs for his trouble. He scowled, enunciating, "A poem."

"Oh, for Valentine's?" Her whole face brightened and this time, Michael groaned aloud.

"Don’t patronise me, Iz. It's our first one since we got back together or actually together or since I moved in or whatever you want to call the marker, so I just thought..." he trailed off, watching her expression as she followed his litany until she hit epic eyeroll stage.

"You don't even know when your anniversary is, do you, Michael?"

"Nope," popping the P and grinning at her indelicate sound. He softened then. "That's part of why I thought it would be nice to do something romantic for Valentine's. I mean I know when February 14th is. But," he glanced at the blank paper, "I'm realising all the romantic shit I know is geared to women."

"Most of that goes both ways, you know. Contrary to popular belief, men do enjoy getting flowers," she paused when he shook his head.

"Alex doesn't like cut flowers. He likes plants that can go in the window boxes on the porch but it's February, Izzy. Outdoor flowers season it ain't. Besides, I did that for his birthday, in the much more plant-friendly summer," he smiled.

"Okay. And chocolate is out because? The heart boxes are a little cliché but there are some nice ones."

"No, nothing that comes in a box like that. I mean, he's not big on candy anyway, except some fancy chocolate stuff, but candy in a box is bad news. Something to do with his mom."

Michael looked over to find her giving him a soft smile. He frowned. "What?"

"There's a lot of that, isn't there? You ruling out things or accepting things to accommodate his triggers."

"It's not like I'm the only one doing it, I mean, he puts up with my shit, too," he shifted, uncomfortable with the insight.

"Yes, and that's what I mean," Isobel insisted. "Look, the whole, flowers and candy and perfume thing? That's a formula. It's a socially acceptable, conventional way to express feelings. But that doesn't automatically make it romance. Real romance is about showing the other person how much you care about them. That's something you two are doing every day, navigating each other's sore spots."

"Great, so I'm fucking swimming in romance. That doesn't help me with Valentine's, Isobel."

She rolled her eyes. "Patience, Romeo. The 14th this year," she paused to check her phone, "is a Friday. So. Walk me through what a typical Friday morning looks like for you two. I'm assuming you aren't taking the day off."

"Hardly," he scoffed.

"Okay, then, Friday morning. The alarm goes off. Then what?"

Michael ran through it in his head, speech following closely behind. "Then I go take a shower while he hits the snooze button."

"He goes back to sleep?"

"Nah, I think it's just because he can now. Not on military schedule anymore. So he gets up when I get out of the bathroom, so he can shower, and I go make coffee and eat breakfast and feed the dog," he ran through it slowly aloud. It was harder than he’d anticipated to actually name everything he did on such autopilot.

"Because he takes longer. Well, everybody takes longer than you when you're not washing your hair," she teased.

Michael rolled his eyes but he did laugh. She knew him too well, down to his habit of only washing his hair at night because it took so damn long to dry. "Then he takes coffee and Buffy out back, waits for her to do her thing, and I make lunches."

"No breakfast?"

"I eat breakfast. Alex likes to be up a while before he eats so I just put extra stuff in his lunch bag." He noticed the grin tugging at her mouth. "What?"

"It's nauseatingly cute, that's what," Isobel let the grin bloom.

He shrugged. "I got lots of practice making sandwiches for me and the other kids in the home when the adults couldn't be bothered. Might as well use it."

Her expression did that thing it did when he talked about growing up, mixing love and guilt in soft focus. He'd learned to ignore it and cut off the apologies if they surfaced.

"Anyway, Iz, that's the whole routine. He sticks his lunch in his messenger bag with his computer stuff and heads off."

Isobel clapped her hands, startling him with the loud noise. "It's obvious: it has to be something you put in his lunch bag. Maybe a paper heart, like a traditional... Why are you shaking your head at me?"

"We're guys, remember? I'm not doing heart-shaped anything and Alex doesn't want some embarrassing shit in his lunch that other people might see."

"Okay, fine," she sighed. Isobel tapped her fingernails against the table in a staccato rhythm as she thought, then brightened. "Oh!"

"What?" Michael asked warily.

"You said fancy chocolate as long as it's not in a box, right? How does Alex feel about Tupperware?"

"Tupperware?" He stared at her. "Fine, I guess, I mean he'll eat leftovers housed in it, so it must be okay."

"Excellent. Then I have the perfect gift idea: handmade truffles."

"Truffles? That's the round ones with the squishy middles, right?" At her nod, he enquired, "Where do I buy handmade truffles?" And would he be able to afford them? Cost wasn't exactly the first thing Isobel considered. Or the tenth.

"Not buy, Michael. Make. By hand - oh!" She lit up in such excitement over whatever she'd just thought of that Michael knew he'd be letting her drag him into doing what she wanted. "We won't need to screw around with two forks to dip the balls in chocolate! We can do it hands-free!"

That comment, he wasn't touching with a ten foot pole. "So what's this gonna cost me, Iz?"

She named a figure that seemed kinda high for chocolate but was within his budget, and he sighed. "Alright. I'm not entirely sure what we're actually doing, but, let's do it."

*

On the morning of the 14th, while Alex was in the backyard with Buffy, Michael carefully packed a small Tupperware container into the bottom of the lunch bag, followed by the rest of Alex's lunch.

Taped to the lid of the plastic box was a regular old Post-it note in Michael's neat lettering.

_The container screams homemade because I personally made the contents (with help from Iz). These are plain chocolate but the much bigger container waiting for you at home has some adult flavours, too. I may have used some of the good whiskey. Shh don't tell Buffy._

_I ate enough truffle guts during the very messy process of making these to be pretty sure you'll enjoy them._

_Happy Valentine's._

And instead of a signature, a small, hand-drawn heart proclaimed, MG + AM.

[Et fini]

**Author's Note:**

> Truffles are actually pretty easy to make, just time-consuming and everything everywhere will be covered in chocolate, lol.


End file.
